Smoking in public places

I refer to Mark Sciriha's remarks (January 5) about the smoking regulations and would like to point out the following.

The nine regulations contained in legal notice 414 of 2004 do not allow any circumvention of the law, contrary to what Mr Sciriha may have implied in as far as the establishment of a smoking room (not area as referred to by Mr Sciriha) goes. The size of this room which must be completely separate is established in regulation 5(c) where reference is made to the Malta Standards Authority's technical specifications on the Indoor Air Quality - Reduction Of The Effects Of Smoking On Non-Smokers (MSA TS1200:2004). Anybody interested to download these regulations can log onto www.gov.mt and access the DOI legal notices or contact the Health Promotion Department and obtain a copy of the legal notice and the relevant technical specifications as published in the Government Gazette.

Ignorance of the law is no excuse and the amount of publicity that these hotly debated regulations generated must surely have had a very wide public outreach.

The outgoing year has indeed been "revolutionary" for heralding in regulations that effectively protect against the serious adverse health effects caused by passive smoking. Enforcement is crucial and the Health Promotion Department has generated enough public awareness to ensure that in the majority of public places including restaurants these regulations are being strictly observed.

Admittedly there remain a few individuals responsible for places of entertainment who blatantly defy the law. These must be brought in line by the police and the fines provisions, as specified in the recently amended Tobacco (Smoking Control) Act (Cap315), are a good deterrent to any offender.

All regulations are only as good as their enforcement!